The Department for Transport are running a consultation for next East Anglia franchise; a valuable opportunity for local residents to express their support for the reopening of the Wisbech to March railway.

Question 3 asks:Are there any changes to the current passenger rail service (i.e. number or trains per hour/day), as set out in paragraph 5.8, which you feel should be considered? If so, please explain your rationale. For example, please identify specific local factors which might influence the future level of passenger demand which you consider should be reflected in the specification.

It would be useful if you could respond to EAconsultation2014@railexecutive.gsi.gov.uk about the “East Anglia rail franchise consultation” saying the railway from March to Wisbech should be reopened and suggesting the service you would like to see provided; e.g. an hourly through rail service from Wisbech to Cambridge. This can be backed up by a comment about how this would benefit you and Wisbech.

We have started an active campaign to gather more supporters following the launch of the Wisbech Rail Reopening lobby supported by businesses and councils.

Unfortunately we discovered a technical fault (which was fixed at 3pm today Wed 19th Nov) so have lost some of the signups in the last couple of months. If you have signed up over this period please do accept our apologies; we would appreciate it if you could sign up again. We will remove the duplicates. If you haven’t signed up yet then please do add you name and encourage your friends to.

Although the petition was handed to Cambridgeshire County Council on Tuesday 16th July 2013, with a total of 3784 supporters, 2907 from Cambridgeshire, we are still gathering new supporters and now have over 4000.

The campaign to re-open the rail line between Wisbech and March is firmly on track after CEOs from Anglian Water and some of the region’s biggest businesses joined forces yesterday (Thursday November 13) with Stephen Barclay MP, Steve Count leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, John Clark leader of Fenland District Council, RailFuture and local councillors to launch Wisbech’s Infrastructure for Growth lobby.

Steve Barclay reports from today’s launch of the Wisbech 2020 Infrastructure for Growth lobby which highlights potential to open up the Cambridgeshire jobs market with better transport links.

“Opening the Wisbech rail-link will cut travelling times to Cambridge by more than half and costs by a third, according to a new industry led study.The economic case for opening the Wisbech rail-link, included in today’s launch of the Wisbech 2020 Infrastructure for Growth lobby, highlights potential to open up the Cambridgeshire jobs market with better transport links.The report to today’s launch at Wisbech Boathouse says cutting travelling time between Wisbech and Cambridge via March would help support business and employment in the town by increasing accessibility.It would also boost the local housing market by offering affordable homes for Cambridge workers, who could take advantage of the rail link to commute to work, which in turn would ease the pressure on property markets in Cambridge.”